Doctors of optometry in the United Sates use 20 feet as the standard for measuring sharpness of vision. 20/20 vision. The top number is your distance in feet from the chart, whereas the bottom number is the distance at which a person with normal eyesight can read the same line. Which simply means that you can see something at a distance of 20 feet with the clarity that is accepted as normal for that given distance. Of course, there can always be outliers who can have 20/30 or 20/15 vision, which imply superior and inferior vision sharpness, respectively. However, many a time, people incorrectly deduce having 20/20 vision to be perfect — which is why, at the beginning of this year, a lot of pictures went up with the caption of “I got that 20/20 vision” (or something to that effect) further echoing their aspirations and hopes from this new decade, this new year of 2020 to be nothing short of perfect.
Though it feels light years ago, but the start of 2020 felt like a huge deal- stepping into a new decade and what not. But by now, 3 days away from a new year, all we want is for this year to be over, shunned away somewhere, never to be thought or spoken of again. That’s not how life works though, does it? A year like this has provided enough experiences to be further repeated, in hushed voices, as horror stories to generations of kids and grandkids. (… “and then the internet stopped working while I was working from home”/ “The last of the toilet paper was gone from stores”/ “all people did was post pictures of the food they made in lockdown”) It was a moment in time when we realized how incredibly small our existence really is, on this pale blue dot, that we call home. How everything, at the end of the day, is just a stroke of luck and what do we really control if someone having bat soup in a faraway land can evidently have repercussions on all our lives.
This weekend, I caught myself binge watching multiple Year In Review videos, going through all that has happened over this world, in this eerie year. Australian Bushfire, Delhi Pogrom, Indonesia Floods, Killing of George Floyd, Multitudinous Earthquakes, Beirut Explosions, and of course the implications of Coronavirus and living through a Global Pandemic. Of course, unfortunate events are not restricted to only this year, they happen every year — we lose loved ones, we lose legends, we succumb to natural calamities, we are shaken by terrorist attacks, but this year, every death, every tragedy, every bad news, felt slightly more personal. The mourning felt slightly more collective — an entire human race caught in time warp.
Similar to how a shop keeper takes stock and puts out the best products in front, that’s what people do in their year wrap up thoughts — the achievements, and the best things on display. And in a year like this, survival feels like a damn good achievement. The single most important lesson this year has taught me, which I would want to be put on display out front, in blazing letters, to be BRAVE. In the face of confusion and despair, believe in your 20/20 vision, only plan as far as you can see, because beyond it, nobody really knows what lies in store.
A New Year won’t magically change things, agreed — but I do think there is a very real psychological change between the end of one year and the beginning of another. There is hope for fulfilling aspirations which were left unceremoniously in the previous year, the joy of having a fresh start, clean slate to write on. As such this time of change is a shared global experience — one year ends and a new one begins. And beginnings should always be optimistic.
Happy New Year, folks. Make it a good one. ❤
Below are a few pictures from this year, that I like to rest my eyes on every now and then.
